Six months after he was involved in a car accident that left a woman dead, Conner Smith has had to lean on faith more than ever.
Now, he says he’s relying on God to help him decide when to return to his career.
Smith spoke about his future in music in a wide-ranging conversation on The Upload With Brooke Taylor this week, where he said he’s at peace after surrendering the fate of his career to God’s will.
“It’s like, ‘God, I don’t wanna pick a color of the paint on the walls,'” Smith reflects. “There’s a new house being built here, and I don’t want to have a single decision…God, you build this house, and I will sit with you and I will be with you.'”
Will Conner Smith Release Music Again After His Fatal Accident?
Smith believes he’ll return to music in a regular way soon — but he’s not rushing the timing.
“There’s been so many people asking me, ‘Man, when are you gonna get back and post on socials? Put out music again,'” the singer says. “…And it’s like, ‘When God tells me to.'”
He adds that he thinks it will be “really soon when we’re gonna be able to step back into that,” but emphasizes that he’s been consciously looking to fulfill God’s timing, and not his own.
That process has brought Smith much-needed solace during the hardest chapter of his life.
“I’m just living in such a place of peace, and such a place of overflow and the spirit of the Lord,” he comments, saying he has “a lot of peace” over the idea of returning to music soon, too.
What Happened During Conner Smith’s Fatal Accident?
- In June 2025, Smith was behind the wheel of a truck that hit and killed a 77-year-old Nashville woman.
- The victim, Dorothy Dobbins, was transported to Vanderbilt Medical Center but died of her injuries.
- The accident took place at 3rd Ave. North near Van Buren St., at the north end of Nashville, away from the then-ongoing CMA Fest activities.
According to police, Dobbins was within a crosswalk when she was fatally struck at about 7:30PM. Smith was not impaired in any way at the time of the accident.
Read More: Conner Smith Issued Misdemeanor Citation After Fatal Incident
The singer was issued a misdemeanor citation for failure to yield resulting in a fatality. The citation was classified as a traffic violation, not a criminal offense, indicating that there was no intent to cause harm.
In his first statement after the tragedy, Smith said “not a day has gone by” that he hasn’t grieved the incident and kept Dobbs’ family in his prayers.
“My heart is broken in a way I’ve never experienced, and I still struggle to fully process the weight of it all,” he added.
Has Conner Smith Returned to the Stage Since His Fatal Accident?
Smith’s first performance after the tragedy took place on July 30 at the Grand Ole Opry.
On that stage, he spoke about the accident, saying he had stayed “isolated from the world” in the immediate aftermath.
Read More: Conner Smith Describes Isolation After Fatal Accident
Smith also noted that he “knew my heart had no way to process” the tragedy that had occurred, and that he relied on Jesus, and on the friends that came and visited him, in the weeks after it happened.
More recently, Smith wiped his Instagram and started posting again. He has shared 10 unreleased songs to YouTube, and asked fans to respond with their thoughts. In November, he released a new song called “Ain’t Got Enough Faith.”
What Else Has Conner Smith Said About the Tragedy?
Elsewhere in his latest podcast appearance, Smith describes the fatal accident as a “tornado” that ripped through his life, leaving “intense trauma” in its wake.
He says he and his wife stayed on his parents’ property in the weeks afterward, retreating from the world both in person and on social media.
“The night everything happened, I turned off my phone and I put it in a drawer for four weeks. I didn’t have a phone for a month because it was just so traumatic,” he recounted.
At one point, he tried to take his phone out, opened YouTube “and the first recommended video was NBC News with my picture. I just quickly was like, ‘Not yet,'” Smith continued.
Conner Smith Says His Fellow Country Singers Lifted Him Up After Tragedy
But while he was hiding away from the world, loved ones were coming to him — including some friends from the country music community.
“The first person that showed up at my house on Monday morning was Dylan Marlowe and his wife. They just dropped everything the moment they heard and came,” Smith remembers.
Another singer named Payton Smith supported Smith during this period, too.
The singer says during a dinner with Payton and his wife a couple months after the accident, Payton told him that they were supporting him from afar that night.
“He said, ‘Man, when we heard, we didn’t know what to do, so we just got in our car and just drove around your house and just prayed,'” Smith says. “‘And when we got there, we saw other cars of people we knew doing the exact same thing.'”
Country Stars Who Suffered Unthinkable Tragedy
Not all country stars came by their storytelling ability naturally. Sadly, many singers have encountered great tragedies in their lives, or have overcome sharp odds to get where they are today. Many have battled unbearable, unimaginable pain.
